They have been designed with a dedication to quality, usability, and most importantly, to safety.

Our systems have been rigorously tested. Your company can rest assured, that should the worst happen, the crew and passengers won't have to spend time looking for rafts in storage compartments or need to remember to grab it out from under their seats. With one quick pull of the handle the life raft will already be waiting and inflated, with all of their survival gear, so all they need to do is get out of the ship and into the raft.

Below you will find more information about each of our currently offered Life Raft Deployment Systems. If you are looking for a system that is not currently listed please contact us and ask for Research and Development. We may be developing what you are looking for.

LRDS for S-76

LRDS for Bell 412

The ASI-500 is our external Life Raft Deployment System for the Sikorsky S-76.

This Life Raft Deployment System was truly the first of its kind and underwent approximately four years of rigorous and experimental testing by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States, and set new standards for approval under the FAA for externally mounted life raft systems.

This raft system was created after a customer let us know that what he really want to see was an externally mounted life raft system, so that crew and passengers could focus more on getting out of a crashed ship rather than looking for the equipment that would keep them safe until they could be rescued.

The ASI-500 system has been available since 1999.

If used in the United States, the FAA dictates that deployment only be available to the pilot and co-pilot. We offer a kit for passenger deployment for those customers who opperate under EASA and must have deployment available to the passengers.

We also offer an additional installation kit to adapt it for use with sliding doors.

There are two, 10 passenger rafts currently approved for use in the ASI-500 system.

RFD's canopied Aerolite.

RFD's reversible Heliraft.

This system can be installed on either one or both sides of the aircraft. S-76A's with serial numbers 760005 thru 760095 installation is limited to the right side only.

The complete operating system, installed on both right and left sides, weighs 52lbs and takes about two days to install. Raft and survival pack choice will add to the system's overall weight.

The single side operating system weighs 27lbs and takes about two days to install. Raft and survival pack choice will add to the system's overall weight.

This product has no air speed restrictions.

The ASI-800 is our external Life Raft Deployment System for the Bell 412.

This Life Raft Deployment System consists of a composite pod, which contains a 10 man life raft, mounted in a composite frame. The frame is hinged and mounted in the place of the original hinged panel forward of the sliding door.

This system spent two years in developement and testing and has been available since 2001.

We developed this system first for a customer looking to purchase from an American company that could create a deployment system that could be engaged by a person who was still seated, versus the available options at the time, which required the pilot or co-pilot to leave the cockpit, enter the cabin and execute a complicated deployment process.

The system comes standard as pilot, co-pilot, and passenger deployable.

There are two, 10 passenger, life rafts currently approved for use in the ASI-800.

RFD's canopied Aerolite.

RFD's reversible Heliraft.

This system may be installed on one or both sides.

The complete operating system, installed right and left sides, weighs 57lbs and takes about 12 man-hours to install. Raft and survival pack choice will add to the system's overall weight.

Single side operating system weighs 28.5lbs and takes about six man-hours to install. Raft and survival pack choice will add to the system's overall weight.